How much should I pay a builder per day?

You shouldn't be pricing a builder by the day at all: the question that protects you is what the whole job costs and when it finishes. A day rate measures the wrong thing. A cheap builder who takes twenty days costs more than a dearer one who takes twelve, and with a day rate you only find that out at the end, not the start.

Judge value on the things that actually predict how a job goes. Ask for proof of public liability insurance. Ask to speak to previous customers with similar houses, and go and look at the finished work if you can. Most of what we build is in Victorian and Edwardian properties around Crystal Palace, Dulwich and Bromley, and houses that age always hold surprises. So ask how the builder handles them. Priced in writing before the work continues, or muttered on site and added to the bill? That answer matters far more than the headline rate.

Our approach is to remove the day-rate question entirely. We survey the property, agree the scope, and give a fixed written quote with a programme, and the price we quote is the price you pay. A full bathroom refit starts from £7,000, for example, and you know that figure before anyone lifts a tool. If a builder will only give you a day rate for a defined project, they either haven't scoped it or won't commit to it. Either way, you'd be the one funding the uncertainty.